There was snapper, flathead and morwong caught at Peel Island midweek along with some Moses perch just before top of the tide. Keven Carpenter, or KC, released the (pictured) morwong as it is not great table fish.
There is still a lot of debris in Moreton Bay from recent heavy rains, and some of it could cause a lot of damage to a vessel, so always keep a good look-out when you are on the water.
Bream are one of the “bread and butter” species that are common in Moreton Bay but can be tricky to catch. They can be caught at sea, in estuaries and even in fresh water at times.
They typically pick at your bait and test it to see if it has a line attached. Maybe three times they might pick cautiously at your baited hook ready to see if there is pressure on the bait which indicates a hungry fisherman trying to trick them.
If you free spool your reel, with the bail arm up, or set the drag to almost nothing, they will eventually take the bait and run.
That is the moment to pounce and set the hook.
They are great fighters for their size and fun on light line. Some of them can get to a fair size
They are better than the average table fish, with white flesh and fillets are delicate and moist.
To maximise the amount of meat, scale them and score each side and dust in flour and pan fry them whole. Delicious
If you can get onto a school of bream, you will easily get your bag limit. Fishermen can catch them on yabies in creeks, or on the incoming tide along sandy or muddy tidal flats. They are ambush predators and will take small lures and soft plastics. Beware they have nasty spines on both their top and undersides.
It is possible to catch bream in sheltered estuaries, or marinas, on bread. Simply wrap the fresh bread around a very small hook and use berley to bring them on the bite. Lower your unweighted hook into the berley trail and hey presto you are on. Its a good idea to hide the hook with the bread and only have the tip of the hook presented.
